# 49% of grocery retailers sit on dormant retail media assets as CPG brands hunt new shelf

*Point-of-sale advantage and owned shopper data go undermonetized while suppliers redirect budgets to deployed networks.*

By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC.
Published 2026-10-04.

Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/retail-media-networks-pattern-2026-10-04t12-6
Subject: Retail media networks (pattern)
Tags: retail media, grocery, trade spend, shelf placement, attribution, cpg

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According to a study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Grocery TV reported by Supermarket News, nearly **50%** of grocery retailers are failing to fully deploy their retail media capabilities despite controlling both shelf access and purchase-moment shopper data. The gap creates a pocket of opportunity for physical-product brands willing to negotiate direct media buys with regional or independent grocers who have audience but no sales infrastructure.

The retailers sitting on dormant inventory control the same assets that make Walmart Connect and Kroger Precision Marketing valuable: captive foot traffic, verified purchase data, and point-of-decision real estate. The difference is deployment. The half that have not built retail media operations leave suppliers to negotiate placement the old way — slotting fees, trade spend, manual promotion calendars — while competitors access programmatic buys, attribution dashboards, and closed-loop measurement at the national chains. The IAB study found that marketers now view in-store retail media as a full-funnel channel, meaning brands expect awareness, consideration, and conversion metrics from the same grocery media buy.

The mechanism that makes this underutilization costly is budget migration. CPG brands and physical-product suppliers allocate retail media dollars to networks that deliver reporting and self-serve dashboards. When a grocer cannot offer digital ad inventory, shopper marketing budgets flow to competitors who can. The retailer loses not just the media revenue but also the supplier intimacy that comes from sharing granular sales data. Brands that run campaigns on Kroger's network see basket-level attribution. Brands that cannot run those campaigns at a regional chain lose the closed-loop learning and may reduce distribution investment over time.

The steal for a small physical-product brand is a direct outreach to undercapitalized grocers with a turnkey media proposal. Identify regional or independent chains in your category — retailers with **500** to **3,000** SKUs on shelf but no listed retail media program. Approach the category buyer or marketing director with a simple offer: you will fund in-store signage, end-cap placement, or digital screen time in exchange for anonymized weekly scan data and a **90-day** test window. You supply the creative, the reporting template, and the success metrics. The retailer supplies the audience and the point-of-sale placement. Cost per location ranges from **$200** to **$800** per month depending on format and market size, a fraction of programmatic minimums at national networks.

Structure the proposal as a pilot with clear deliverables. Offer to design shelf talkers, cooler clings, or cart ads that feature a QR code tied to your own attribution pixel. Provide a one-page dashboard showing scan lift, incremental units, and return on ad spend calculated against your media cost. The grocer gets new revenue with zero technology investment. You get purchase data and controlled placement in a category where half the retailers have no competing media program. Run the pilot at three to five locations, document the lift, then use the case study to negotiate expanded placement or reduced slotting fees in the next contract cycle.

The broader pattern is retailer fragmentation in media capability. The top **10** grocery chains operate sophisticated retail media networks with self-serve platforms and live attribution. The next **200** have the assets but not the infrastructure. For a brand with modest budget and a physical product suited to impulse or meal-solution occasions, the underdeployed half represents cheaper inventory, less auction competition, and a direct line to decision-makers who control shelf space and still negotiate terms deal by deal.

## The takeaway

Half of grocers have retail media assets but no sales operation; approach them with a turnkey pilot and capture placement data competitors cannot access.

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## Publisher

**Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339.
Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**.

- Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about
- LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt
- MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp
- Client dashboard: https://dashboard.pops4.com/
- Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands